In using mechanical conveyor belt fasteners for splicing belt ends together, one problem lies in the time it takes for these to be installed on the belt ends. Normally, the fasteners, either of the solid-plate or hinged-loop variety, utilize attachment members such as rivets, staples or nails that extend through apertures in the upper and lower plates of the fasteners as well as through the belt carcass therebetween. Installation tools have been developed to assist in more rapidly driving the attachment members for connecting the belt fasteners to belt ends for splicing them together. One type of tool apparatus uses a guide block provided with several through bores arranged in a pattern corresponding to the pattern of apertures provided in the belt fastener plates. Rivets are loaded into the bores so that they are in proper aligned position relative to the belt fastener for installation. In this manner, several rivets can be simultaneously driven as by a gang driver saving installation time. Alternatively, the rivets can be individually driven with the guide block still saving time and providing accuracy as the installer does not have to manually align and hold the rivets as they are driven.
However, in either case described above, the rivets have to be individually loaded into the guide block bores slowing installation time accordingly. A further complication arises because the rivets in one form include a pilot nail detachably connected at the lower ends of each of the rivets. The pilot nails include sharp ends for piercing the conveyor belt and leading the rivet therethrough as it is driven for application of the belt fasteners to the belt ends. With a bucket full of loose rivet assemblies, the installer has to carefully reach into the bucket to avoid grabbing the sharp nail ends further slowing installation. Accordingly, to handle this problem in installation, applicants' assignee developed a rivet holder as shown in its U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,088, which is incorporated by reference as if reproduced in its entirety herein.
The rivet holder disclosed in the '088 patent has a body formed of two separable portions that come together along a non-linear interface or part line, so that the inner facing surface of the body portion cooperate to form apertures in which the rivets are held. The apertures are located in a pattern matching that of the guide block bores and belt fasteners. To load the guide block with the rivet assemblies, the holder is oriented so that the lower portions of the assemblies extend in the bores. Then, a manual force is applied to tabs upstanding from respective body portions to pivot the body portions apart and release the rivet assemblies so that they are loaded in the corresponding guide block bores.
The '088 patent rivet holder has been found to be extremely useful in reducing installation time at the belt splicing location since basically in the time it had taken to load a single rivet assembly into the guide block, the rivet holder can in substantially the same time permit multiple rivet assemblies to be loaded in the guide block. One shortcoming, however, with the above-described rivet holder is that it provides its body portions with a relatively complex shape especially at the inner facing surfaces extending non-linearly along the part line to form the apertures in which the rivets are held. This complexity in the parts of the rivet holder increases manufacturing costs associated therewith. Another shortcoming is that after the rivet holder is formed by releasably connecting the separable body portions together, the rivet assemblies still have to be inserted into the apertures formed by the releasably connected body portions in a separate manufacturing operation form the forming of the rivet holder body portions themselves. After inserting the rivet assemblies, the preformed rivet heads still remain outside of the apertures in the holder engaged against the upper surface thereof.
In addition, it has been found that although the body portions are releasably held together in a fairly secure manner invariably during shipping, there will be a certain relatively small number that are pivoted sufficiently so as to release some or all of their rivet assemblies. Also, the upstanding tabs make it difficult to stack the holders in a compact fashion in their shipping container. The relatively thick pivotal portions of the '088 patent rivet holder and having the rivet head protruding over the top surface of the rivet holder also increases the profile of the assembly thus increasing space requirements therefor during shipping.
Because the body portions separate after they are pivoted to release the rivets, an installer typically just allows these separate pieces to fall to the ground as they continue the rivet installation procedure. In addition, the pivoting action required for releasing the rivets effectively precludes anything but a single, separate rivet holder for each belt fastener. This requires an installer to have to go retrieve a number of the separate rivet holders corresponding to the number of belt fasteners that are to be applied across a belt end.
Accordingly, there is a need for a less complex rivet holder. In particular, a rivet holder that is more efficient and less expensive in its manufacture would be desirable. A rivet holder that does not inadvertently release rivets held thereby during shipping and permits for more compact stacking thereof would also be desirable.